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Rain Partier

Just a half hour ago, W. Haden Blackman and J.H. Williams IIIposted the following message on Blackman's blog, announcing their departure from DC's Batwoman. The depature is attributed to editorial interference from DC, particularly in regards to being forced to ditch plans for Killer Croc's origin, changing the ending of their current arc, and prevented from showing Kate and Maggie from getting married in the book. As you can read below, all of the changes came at the last minute after a year or more of planning. The team will be on the book until issue #26. It's unknown what will happen with the book after that, and how it might affect Williams' upcoming work on Sandman: Overture with Neil Gaiman.

Dear Batwoman readers -

From the moment DC asked us to write Batwoman — a dream project for both of us — we were committed to the unofficial tagline “No Status Quo.” We felt that the series and characters should always be moving forward, to keep changing and evolving. In order to live up to our mantra and ensure that each arc took Batwoman in new directions, we carefully planned plotlines and story beats for at least the first five arcs well before we ever wrote a single issue. We’ve been executing on that plan ever since, making changes whenever we’ve come up with a better idea, but in general remaining consistent to our core vision.

Unfortunately, in recent months, DC has asked us to alter or completely discard many long-standing storylines in ways that we feel compromise the character and the series. We were told to ditch plans for Killer Croc’s origins; forced to drastically alter the original ending of our current arc, which would have defined Batwoman’s heroic future in bold new ways; and, most crushingly, prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married. All of these editorial decisions came at the last minute, and always after a year or more of planning and plotting on our end.

We’ve always understood that, as much as we love the character, Batwoman ultimately belongs to DC. However, the eleventh-hour nature of these changes left us frustrated and angry — because they prevent us from telling the best stories we can. So, after a lot of soul-searching, we’ve decided to leave the book after Issue 26.

We’re both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward. We can’t reliably do our best work if our plans are scrapped at the last minute, so we’re stepping aside. We are committed to bringing our run to a satisfying conclusion and we think that Issue 26 will leave a lasting impression.

And most of all, a huge thank you to everyone who read the book. Hearing your voices, your reactions, your enthusiasm every month was such a joy, so humbling, so rewarding. You guys rock! Because so many of you embraced the series, we were able to complete four arcs, and your passion for Batwoman encouraged us to push ourselves to do our best work with each and every issue.

Thank you for loving Batwoman as much as we do.

Goodbye for now,

Haden & J H

These problems has been going on for sometime, as we reported on it back in June. Of course, Williams and Blackman are the latest in a growing list of creators to quit a DC book blaming editorial interference.

UPDATE: Williams also posted the same message on his blog, but the site is experiencing some issues (probably due to the influx of traffic).

Thanks to intrepid Outhouse reporter Zechs who disturbed my viewing of the classic movie Mary Poppins with my kids and my mom, who is visiting, to publish this article. DC should get a counter reset just for that.

UPDATE #2:Steve Morris has covered the story over at The Beat, and he has some notable insights:

1. Williams mentioned that DC was more concerned about the "wedding" part of "gay wedding."

2. Williams is the artist on the new Sandman: Overture with Neil Gaiman.

Just a half hour ago, W. Haden Blackman and J.H. Williams IIIposted the following message on Blackman's blog, announcing their departure from DC's Batwoman. The depature is attributed to editorial interference from DC, particularly in regards to being forced to ditch plans for Killer Croc's origin, changing the ending of their current arc, and prevented from showing Kate and Maggie from getting married in the book. As you can read below, all of the changes came at the last minute after a year or more of planning. The team will be on the book until issue #26. It's unknown what will happen with the book after that, and how it might affect Williams' upcoming work on Sandman: Overture with Neil Gaiman.

Dear Batwoman readers -

From the moment DC asked us to write Batwoman — a dream project for both of us — we were committed to the unofficial tagline “No Status Quo.” We felt that the series and characters should always be moving forward, to keep changing and evolving. In order to live up to our mantra and ensure that each arc took Batwoman in new directions, we carefully planned plotlines and story beats for at least the first five arcs well before we ever wrote a single issue. We’ve been executing on that plan ever since, making changes whenever we’ve come up with a better idea, but in general remaining consistent to our core vision.

Unfortunately, in recent months, DC has asked us to alter or completely discard many long-standing storylines in ways that we feel compromise the character and the series. We were told to ditch plans for Killer Croc’s origins; forced to drastically alter the original ending of our current arc, which would have defined Batwoman’s heroic future in bold new ways; and, most crushingly, prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married. All of these editorial decisions came at the last minute, and always after a year or more of planning and plotting on our end.

We’ve always understood that, as much as we love the character, Batwoman ultimately belongs to DC. However, the eleventh-hour nature of these changes left us frustrated and angry — because they prevent us from telling the best stories we can. So, after a lot of soul-searching, we’ve decided to leave the book after Issue 26.

We’re both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward. We can’t reliably do our best work if our plans are scrapped at the last minute, so we’re stepping aside. We are committed to bringing our run to a satisfying conclusion and we think that Issue 26 will leave a lasting impression.

And most of all, a huge thank you to everyone who read the book. Hearing your voices, your reactions, your enthusiasm every month was such a joy, so humbling, so rewarding. You guys rock! Because so many of you embraced the series, we were able to complete four arcs, and your passion for Batwoman encouraged us to push ourselves to do our best work with each and every issue.

Thank you for loving Batwoman as much as we do.

Goodbye for now,

Haden & J H

These problems has been going on for sometime, as we reported on it back in June. Of course, Williams and Blackman are the latest in a growing list of creators to quit a DC book blaming editorial interference.

UPDATE: Williams also posted the same message on his blog, but the site is experiencing some issues (probably due to the influx of traffic).

Thanks to intrepid Outhouse reporter Zechs who disturbed my viewing of the classic movie Mary Poppins with my kids and my mom, who is visiting, to publish this article. DC should get a counter reset just for that.

UPDATE #2:Steve Morris has covered the story over at The Beat, and he has some notable insights:

1. Williams mentioned that DC was more concerned about the "wedding" part of "gay wedding."

2. Williams is the artist on the new Sandman: Overture with Neil Gaiman.

Strict31 wrote:I'm not sure that combining the nigh-uncontrollable power of LOLtron with the Nacireman is a good idea. Some years from now, when mankind is on the verge of extinction, we'll be able to look back and remember this moment, and say, "DANG."

Outhouse Editor

I just wonder about the ramifactions this has? Will J.H. still do the Sandman book with Gaiman? If not. Oh boy that's another new can of worms. But the bigger issue is the minority. Yet again DC saying they're for it but slamming the door on them.

Outhouse Editor

I just wonder about the ramifactions this has? Will J.H. still do the Sandman book with Gaiman? If not. Oh boy that's another new can of worms. But the bigger issue is the minority. Yet again DC saying they're for it but slamming the door on them.

Way to be hypocrites there DC.

sdsichero wrote:I especially like and admire Zechs. He's everything I wish I could be!

Rain Partier

Hmm. Williams has stressed there was never any anti-gay marriage sentiments expressed, just that DC editorial was clear that they absolutely didn't want the character married at this point.

If the two were fictionally married, there'd be no going back--any ending or reversal of the bond would be viewed by the online blogging community as a virtual hate crime against gay and female characters, and nothing really bad could happen to either character, in or out of the marriage, without a similar backlash. With regards to the bloggers, it would be easy to imagine DC being in the position of not being able to do anything right no matter what they did, in their views.

Rain Partier

Hmm. Williams has stressed there was never any anti-gay marriage sentiments expressed, just that DC editorial was clear that they absolutely didn't want the character married at this point.

If the two were fictionally married, there'd be no going back--any ending or reversal of the bond would be viewed by the online blogging community as a virtual hate crime against gay and female characters, and nothing really bad could happen to either character, in or out of the marriage, without a similar backlash. With regards to the bloggers, it would be easy to imagine DC being in the position of not being able to do anything right no matter what they did, in their views.

Rain Partier

To be honest, it's easy to think of serial characters you might not really want to be married.

Maybe a question we should also consider is why the writer and artist wanted to marry the two characters right now, and felt so strongly about it having to be done now that they were willing to walk off the book?

Rain Partier

To be honest, it's easy to think of serial characters you might not really want to be married.

Maybe a question we should also consider is why the writer and artist wanted to marry the two characters right now, and felt so strongly about it having to be done now that they were willing to walk off the book?